Expansion

“Evidence Proves Girls Able to ‘Take’ Basketball in Stride: Research Okays Feminine Endurance, Emotions, Lung Capacity, Girls 70% as Strong as Boys" by Dr. C.H. McCloy, IGHSAU Iowa Girls Basketball Yearbook, 1952.

Led by long-time IGHSAU Executive Director E. Wayne Cooley, girls’ state basketball tournaments entered a new period of popularity in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Games at Veterans Memorial Auditorium were punctuated by elaborate half-time shows and Hall of Fame inductions. The annual Iowa Girls Basketball Yearbook recounted tournament victories and promoted girls’ basketball and the ‘Iowa Girl,’ publishing research on the sport’s benefits and advising on proper etiquette. The rising profile and profitability of girls’ basketball also supported the IGHSAU’s expansion, which added eight sports between 1955 and 1970; softball in 1955, tennis and golf in 1956, track in 1962, cross-country in 1966, swimming in 1967, and gymnastics and field hockey in 1968.